A Total Fire Ban has been declared for many parts of New South Wales for today, Wednesday, October 23rd 2013.

Watch and Act warnings are still in place for the State Mine Fire near Lithgow, the Hall Road Fire in the Southern Highlands/Wollondilly, the Mt Yorke Road Fire at Mt Victoria, and the Linksview Road fire at Springwood.

Mark Johnson is the Rural Fire Service's Deputy-In-Charge at Lithgow for the State Mine Fire, and told ABC News the overnight rain has hampered fire fighting efforts overnight.

"We have had around about 10mm of rain and it has made it a little bit inconvenient in that it has made some of the tracks a little bit slippery and that's restricted some access for a period of time," Mark says.

"We're obviously concerned about the safety of fire fighters out there on the line, but with those sorts of weather conditions, we'll just have to be vigilant on what sort of fire behaviour we're going to see during the day.

"But we're confident that we've got some good strategies in place and we've done a lot of good consolidation work overnight and we'll be hoping for the best during the day."

"Once the winds freshen and tend westerly during the day, we expect that humidity to drop down.

"So you've got that triple whammy of warm conditions, dry conditions and breezy conditions contributing to the very high fire danger for the Central Tablelands, but as we head towards the Sydney Basin and Hunter, extreme fire conditions," Brendan says.

"Today I'd expect very little rain, if any at all and winds will freshen from the north-west, tending westerly as the day unfolds and then cooler conditions once the winds swing around to the south-west."

Brendan says winds are expected to reach between 35 to 55 km/h today.

"But it's not looking that promising in terms of precipitation over the next few days. We're not expecting much, if anything as we head into the weekend."

A Total Fire Ban has been issued for the Central Ranges, New England, Northern Slopes, North Western, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Greater Sydney Region, Greater Hunter, North Coast and Far North Coast Total Fire Ban Districts for today, Wednesday, October 23rd 2013.

A Total Fire Ban means no fire is allowed to be lit in the open, and all permits are suspended.

Penalties for lighting a fire during a Total Fire Ban include a fine up to $5,500 and/or 12 months in jail.

How best to prepare and stay informed

Here are some key messages people need to know going into today with the dangerous fire conditions forecast:

• If your bushfire survival plan is to leave a bushfire affected area, leave early, leave well before lunchtime.

• There will be no mass evacuations. However your safest option is to leave early. Don't enter bushfire affected areas.

• If you don't have to be in the Blue Mountains or Kurrajong Heights areas, please stay clear.

• Share information about your bushfire survival plans with your family and friends. Keep in regular contact with them during today.

• Many schools, kindergartens and child care centre are closed today. RFS is urging children to stay close to their parents or carers today, conditions can change quickly.

• Do not leave your decisions to the last minute.

• Do not wait for a phone call, text message or knock on the door.

• Do not expect a fire truck.

• Keep monitoring warnings through official channels - listen to ABC Local Radio, look at the RFS website and monitor ABC Emergency.